1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a roof molding for an automobile and a method of terminating the roof molding.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 9 illustrating a roof and FIG. 10 enlargedly illustrating a part of the roof, a roof molding 60 is often attached to the roof 51 of an automobile 50. As seen from FIG. 11 illustrating a part of the roof from which the roof molding 60 is removed away, in order to hide a join line along which a roof panel 52 and an outer side panel 53 are integrally joined together, the roof molding 60 is fitted into a groove 54 formed in the joint of the panels 52 and 53.
As seen from FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 which is a side view of FIG. 12, the roof molding 60 comprises a leg portion 61 and a decorative portion 65 which is formed on the upper end of the leg portion 61. The roof molding is attached to the groove 54 of the joint so that the leg portion 61 is inserted into the groove 54 and the decorative portion 65 closes the groove 54. In order to correctly attach and hold the roof molding 60 to and by the groove 54 of the joint, a metal core member 63 is often longitudinally embedded in the leg portion 61. The reference numeral 66 designates a lip (fin) which is formed longitudinally on each of the side faces of the lower part of the leg portion 61 so as to ensure the fixation of the leg portion to the groove 54.
Concerning with the groove joining the roof, if the groove is press-molded in the same depth as all length, the groove is broken at upper corners 55. Therefore, the depth of the groove 54 is gradually reduced as moving toward each of the ends of the groove 54. When a molding obtained by simply cutting a long extruded mold product into a predetermined length is used as the roof molding 60, therefore, the lower end of the leg portion 61 interferes with the automobile body, so that the roof molding 60 cannot be correctly attached. As a countermeasure, recently, a technique has been proposed in which, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, terminal portions 62 conforming to the depth of the ends of the groove 54 are formed by injection molding integrally with a long extruded mold product 60a that has been cut into a predetermined length.
However, the technique in which the terminal portions 62 are injection-molded has a problem in that join lines 67 are formed in the surface of the end parts of the roof molding or between the extruded mold product 60a and the terminal portions 62, thereby impairing the appearance of the roof molding. Furthermore, the resin of the extruded mold product 60a is different in shrinkage percentage from that of the terminal portions 62 which are injection-molded, and hence the part in the vicinity of each of the join lines 67 may be caused to crack by a difference in amount of thermal contraction, deterioration, or another phenomenon. According to circumstances, the terminal portions 62 are separated from the extruded mold product 60a.
In some cases, the roof 51 is largely curved in the vicinities of the front and rear ends toward the inside of the automobile. In such a case, also the groove 54 of the roof has a largely curved shape at the ends. Therefore, there arises a problem in that the roof molding 60 which is originally linear hardly elongates so as to conform to the shape of the groove. To comply with this, the following method may be employed. Notches are formed in the back side of each terminal portion 62 which is injection-molded, so that the terminal portion is easily bent. While the terminal portion 62 is bent so as to conform to the shape of the groove 54 of the roof, the terminal portion 62 is bonded and fixed to the bottom face of the groove 54 of the roof by a double-coated adhesive tape or an adhesive agent.
In this method, however, the terminal portion 62 which is originally linear is bent in a slightly forced manner and then bonded and fixed to the groove 54. Therefore, the method has problems in that the bent shape may be varied depending on the temperature of the automobile body during the attaching work, and that the bent shape may be returned to the original shape as a result of a temperature change after attachment.